Just a thought....

So I have recently had a brilliant thought...yes those happen for me...sometimes. Granted you might have already figured this out and therefore it isn't that awesome, but ANYHOW. I have always kind of thought along these lines: "When _____ finally happens I will be happy." You can fill that little blank in with "serious amounts of liposuction", "kids being older", etc. Anyhow, I just decided that I need to be happy NOW with what I have NOW. I don't want to miss out on all of the great things happening because it doesn't fit my perfect vision of how things "should be". For instance I have not updated my profile pictures in ages. Why? Because when I would see it all I could notice were the flaws. So finally I am realizing "SO WHAT? YOU HAVE FIVE KIDS." Granted there is no excuse to not be healthy, but there is also no reason I shouldn't feel comfortable in my skin along the way. Also, I have a really long list of things I want to do "when the kids are all in school" or when we are "retired" (is there really going to be such a thing by the time we are of age?). So, I am just trying to make time...often that involves being really tired in the morning because I stay up late but that eventually fades, right?



I have decided that from now on I am going to be happy with the Heather Heavenly Father made. Sure she has faults galore, but so what. We aren't expected to be perfect over night. I hope you have figured this out too, because if you are a (insert relationship: friend, family member, etc.) of mine you have to be awesome, right? :)

Wanna get $25 in FREE groceries...

I have started doing coupons and trying to save as much as I can on groceries. I frequently go to www.pinchingyourpennies.com and look at the state forums. Today they posted a rebate deal that is going to be valid at Albertsons as well as other stores around the country. It is worth a try to look at it and see if you could use any of those items. Essentially they give you a list of items that you need to spend $25 on in one transaction at the participating store. They will give you a $5 off coupon for your next purchase as well as a $20 rebate to be mailed to you. So you get $25 in groceries for FREE. I tell ya, getting food for free is such a high...watch out you will get addicted. :) So for some reason I can't link to the thread. Here is the link they posted though that tells you about the deal.

Girls Night...

So my friend Jessica and I have birthdays within a week of each other and we decided to celebrate for once with a girls night. We invited a bunch of girls from our ward out to eat at Famous Dave's and had a blast. We sat there and talked and talked and eventually we moved the party out to the parking lot....Then we found it absolutely necessary to leave when a homeless man snuck up behind Keli and was whispering sweet nothings into her ear...too bad we don't believe in polyandry (one woman, multiple husbands). Just kidding Keli...we know you felt like bathing after that. :)

Jessica (the other birthday girl) and Renee

Amanda, Dawnelle, and Me (Had to post this since it is the only one with me in it...any my hair looks cute...yea, I've vain like that.) :)

So from there Jessica, Keli, Katie (Keli's sister), Renee and I traveled down to the Little America. We got hooked up with a nice hotel in the tower by a guy I knew from high school and ended up talking till 5:30am. It was a lot of fun. We ate a lot of junk food and laughed a lot. It was such an awesome experience we are going to do it again in February. If you are interested let us know! :)

One of my new FAVORITE things....

Murphy and William sporting their new bibs - LOVE IT!

While I was taking these pictures Murphy kept trying to grap the bib. He is a "texture kid" and he was completely entertained.

An old roommate of mine, Jodi, makes these SUPER CUTE baby bibs (among a billion other things...when you see her blog you will understand). Everyone who has seen them comments on how adorable they are. When you get a chance go to her etsy store ( www.modestmaven.etsy.com). She is out of town until the 29th so if her store isn't open yet check out her blog (www.modestmaven.blogspot.com). She is REALLY talented and sews better than anyone I know. Thank you Jodi!

Pushing buttons can be fun...but it could also call Emergency Personnel

So we are at the children's museum and because we have this huge stroller with William and Murphy in it we had to take the elevator. Satchel and Gehrig were taking turns pushing the buttons because like I said in the title it can be fun. Well Emma was definitely feeling left out so she ran up as soon as we got in and pushed the one that got her attention...the bright red "help" button. As soon as she pushed it she realized something was not quite right when the elevator stopped and a 9-1-1 operator came on the speaker asking about an emergency. Can I just say that those speakers are not the best. We had to tell the gal a few times that it was just our little girl who pushed the button and that it was a mistake. Emma understood right off that that was not the best idea. I don't know if it was my use of her full name or the fact that Andrew and I were going crazy trying to stop it from calling 9-1-1...ahhh good times.

(I realize that I caught his eyes closed during this whole ordeal...I like to think that he is marveling at the hilarity of the situation. Really though he is saying, "I can't believe you are taking pictures of this." Someone has to write it all down right? Why not have a picture to go with.)

The "AWESOMENESS" that is the Children's Museum

So like I mentioned before, we decided to go to the museum for Emma's birthday. We wanted to do something that she would enjoy, but would not involve watching Elmo all day. (She really does love him.) We had never been and thought we would give it a try.

They had a bunch of different areas. No matter what all the kids were really excited about it. I don't think that there was much that Emma wasn't interested in, even if she didn't fully grasp the whole concept. Some of Emma's favorites were: drawing cartoons, playing with magnetic shapes, hanging out in the grocery store making fake sandwiches, and all the little cars and things you could scoot around on. Satchel loved the climbing wall, building "stuff", and this area where you are on opposite sides of the museum but can send messages using a pulley system. Gehrig just liked making a new friend at every exhibit and these cool little car things you can ride around on. You will note that there are no pictures of William and Murphy. They slept most of the time so the only pictures I have are of them in their stroller.

We were there for almost 3 hours and the only thing that got us out of there is saying that we would go and get a treat when we were done. They did not want to leave.

Emma turns 2

(Emma eating yogurt with her favorite pink hat that she loves to wear ALL THE TIME.) :)

My little girl is getting bigger. You know that is a part of life but it is still sad in its own way. She is more independent now. Wanting to make her own decisions. Bossing her brothers around and when they don't do what she wants either biting or pinching them...okay hopefully she grows out of that one. She already speaks so much (at least WAY more than we are use to). Both Satchel and Gehrig were severely speech delayed. Now here is Emma saying complete sentences, singing songs, and telling you the colors that she sees before she is two...boy, the twins have a lot to live up to. :)

(Still sporting her "super hero" pose while sitting in her new princess chair that she got for her birthday.)

There is definitely something special about having a little girl. Before she was born I was really worried because my own mother and I don't have the best relationship, but now I can't imagine life without her. She has an infectious smile and loves everyone she meets. I take her shopping with me and she doesn't mind. Especially if we are looking at clothes and shoes for her...she has a serious love for shoes. She always makes sure that we put our "pretty" perfume on each day (even if we haven't bathed yet) and holds so still just so she can get her toe nails painted. In this house full of boys it is "aweshum" (as Emma says) to have someone to do girly things with.




(Emma's first love - Elmo)

So for her birthday we decided to go to the children's museum at the Gateway. It was a lot of fun. There was something for each of them. Emma loved the store that they had set up there. She could have happily played there all day making fake sandwiches for other kids to steal. There will be another post with those pictures coming up.

(I don't even want to know how many germs are on those...)

Happy birthday Em!

Our "5th" of July Celebration...

My Mom and Emma

Gehrig

My family got together on Sunday instead of Saturday at my Grandma's. We weren't able to get down there until everyone had eaten and was ready to leave but it was still nice to see them even though it wasn't for very long. My camera died shortly after getting there so there is a serious lack of pictures from my family party... Maybe if my sister will send me some she took...hint, hint. :)

The Fourth of July

The day started off with Cowabunga Bay...just so you know it was REALLY fun. It was overcast initially and therefore was a little cold (hence the picture of Emma snuggling under the towel) but it got warmer and the boys LOVED the slides. Andrew and I thought that they were pretty cool too. We tried to get the babies into the little pool they had. Murphy just cried the whole time and William could hardly see because it was so sunny, but we had to try out the new trunks I bought them right? When it was time to go the boys were really sad. They could have stayed there all day but we were starting to get hungry and Emma really needed a nap...To be truthful, Mom and Dad needed one too. :)

Later that night we had tickets to see the Bees play Tacoma. It was a good game. I kept William in the sling that my friend Keli made me. My MIL had William and between the two of us we just made sure that the kids didn't escape out of either end. I think that the older boys appreciated the game more now. Satchel at least is playing more competitively now that he is out of T-ball. The game was so long that Gehrig actually fell asleep in his chair and we ended watching the fireworks while we walked to the car.

In all it was really fun. We were grateful to Grandma and Grandpa Sproul for all the fun we had that day. When we got home at 12:30AM from the game we were definitely glad to a) have had so much fun and b) be able to go to sleep.

Grandma Sproul and Emma

Murphy, Daddy, and Emma (Neither of the kids were excited about the water really.)

William (Don't you just love that smile? I love that they are both smiling more and more.)

"Pops" my FIL

Satchel and Gehrig floating in the lazy river

Me and Drew (No, I am not breastfeeding---I have William in the sling.)

My kids....

We were actually ready on time a couple of weeks ago for church. Which in a way is kind of a miracle since it is just me. Anyhow, I wanted to take a picture of all the kids together and then of course the silly faces came out. Emma hasn't quite figured that one out yet. :)

Grandpa J and Grandma Debbie come to visit...

Okay I realize that they visited over Father's Day weekend and that is almost a month ago but.... better late than never right? They came in Friday night and were staying at my sister's house. They dropped by that night and the kids were so excited that they were acting all crazy and had to show them EVERYTHING. The next day we went to the zoo which was fun. It rained really bad while we were there, but we were near the end anyhow so running out at the end wasn't really a big deal. After we went to the Pie Pizzeria and pretty much just ate the rest of the weekend... :)

Awesome new website I found...

If you love to use different fonts for just about anything (scrapbooking, vinyl, etc.) you need to go to this gals website. Not only does she have a ton of free fonts but you can submit your own handwriting sample to have a font made for FREE. How cool is that?

So check out her website and look around. There are links where you can download all the fonts at one time or you can pick and choose. Let me know what you think when you get a second.

http://kevinandamanda.com/fonts/fontsforpeas/